What Walsh Left Behind
by Red Witch
Summary: Shane has the task of cleaning out Commander Walsh's room and learns that he didn't know Commander Walsh as well as he thought.


**The disclaimer telling all of you that I don't own any Galaxy Rangers characters is in a closet somewhere. This fic also references Tangled Web. I've got a lot of those planned. **

**What Walsh Left Behind**

It had been exactly five days since the end of the civil war on Earth. And yet there was no time for the Galaxy Rangers to rest. Especially for their new commander, Commander Edgar Cain.

"All right team listen up," Cain informed the Series Five Rangers in his new office, which was Commander Walsh's old office. "We've just gotten a tip that Commander Walsh has been spotted on Mars. Hiding in some bar on New Pigalis. Personally I think that's about as likely as the Queen of the Crown becoming a fashion model, but considering the gravity of the situation we have to take what we can get."

"I just can't believe we have to hunt down Commander Walsh like he's some kind of criminal," Niko sighed.

"That's because he **is **a criminal, Ranger Niko," Cain told her as he brushed his dark hair from his face. "The most recent of a long list of crimes is desertion and embezzlement of BETA funds!"

Shane knew what Cain was leaving out. He had purposely left out illegal genetic experimentation. Commander Walsh had broken one of the strictest laws on genetic engineering by putting unauthorized genetic material into a military genetic experiment. His very own DNA into a Supertrooper.

Into Shane Gooseman.

"When do we leave?" Shane still had a hard time calling Walsh's rival 'sir'.

"Gooseman, you're not going with them," Cain told him.

"Why?" Shane asked.

"I think you **know** why," Cain gave him a look. "Look the Board of Leaders tried to make a bounty hunter out of you and it didn't work. I'm not gonna repeat the same mistake. You're sitting out of this. Besides, I need you to do something else. Captain, take the rest of your team and go now. Try to bring back Walsh in one piece."

The other rangers looked at Shane and left. Shane glared at Cain. "Don't give me that look, Gooseman," Cain said. "There's a very good reason why you can't go. It's called conflict of interest. You know, the same reason it was made illegal for a Supertrooper to have a **living** donor?"

"In other words you don't trust me," Shane folded his arms.

"When it comes to Walsh, you bet I don't," Cain said. "Don't forget Gooseman, Walsh and I were rivals for years. And I've studied him and everyone around him rather well. I know you almost as well as Walsh does. Maybe even better."

"Besides," Cain sighed. "Like I said, I have a more important mission for you. I need you to clean out Commander Walsh's living quarters. I've got my decorator coming tomorrow and I need you to throw out his junk."

"Just gonna move right in and make yourself at home?" Shane bristled.

"I might not have had to if Walsh hadn't **run out**," Cain told him. "Kind of hard to kick someone out after they leave. You can do whatever you want with his junk. Put it in storage, set it on fire, sell it on E-Bay. I don't care. Besides, knowing Walsh as well as I do, he'd never put anything important in his personal quarters. So go on. Get to it."

Shane glared at him. "Look Gooseman, I know this isn't exactly a pleasant concept," Cain sighed. "I mean I hate doing stuff for people in charge too. Which is why I have other people do the stuff for me. In this instance that's **you**. Walsh is gone. I'm in charge now. Get over it!"

"Permission to speak freely, Commander…"

"Why the hell not?" Cain sighed. "I can't **wait **to hear this."

"You may be taking over for Commander Walsh but you'll **never** be the man he is," Shane glared.

"Never be an embezzling deserter who performed illegal genetic experimentation and made backroom deals with murdering slime balls who wanted to take over the universe. God I hope not," Cain quipped. "See I can speak my mind too. It works both ways."

Shane growled and stomped out of the room. Leaving he hit the wall so hard it cracked. "That went well," Cain sighed.

"This is what my career has come to," Shane grumbled as he stomped down the hallway. "From Galaxy Ranger to moving man. Great."

He found several empty boxes piled on the side of Walsh's quarters. Two rangers were putting some down. "Gooseman," One said. "Uh we were told to watch Walsh's quarters until you showed up."

"Here are some boxes," Another said. "We'll leave you to it. Unless you want some help?"

"Nah I got it," Shane said. The two other rangers exchanged looks and went their way. Shane could only imagine what they were thinking.

Shane went inside and turned on the lights. He brought in the first empty box and looked around. It was a simple living room, sparsely decorated. "I guess I'd better start in the bedroom," He said to himself.

As he walked in he realized this was Walsh's private room. His father's room. It just seemed surreal to him to touch his former commander's personal objects, especially since he wasn't dead.

He opened up the closet and quickly packed up what few clothes there were. On impulse he touched the closet, looking for hidden compartments but found nothing. Then he moved to one of the drawers. There were a few basic items in there. A bible, a blank notebook and pens, some pencils and some other objects. Shane winced as he saw a few unopened condoms were in there. Carefully he threw them in the trash and shuddered.

It was when he opened the second drawer he found more interesting items. First was a photo album. He casually opened it. There were pictures of people posing. Some were at the beach. Others were children in a backyard.

Shane realized this was a family album.

Walsh's family album. His family album.

These people were all related to him. But he had no idea who they were. He had no idea that Walsh had any family at all.

"Pretty damn ironic," Shane muttered when he realized that.

"What's ironic, Ranger Gooseman?" Buzzwang asked as he walked in carrying a box. Billy and Bubblehead were with him.

"What are you doing here?" Shane was surprised.

"Commander Cain asked us to help you," Billy said.

"And I decided to help too!" Bubblehead chirped.

"I was just…looking at these pictures in this album I found," Shane sat down on the bed and showed Billy.

"Who are they?" Billy asked as he sat down next to Shane.

"Walsh's family I guess. I don't know who any of these people are," Shane said. "I didn't even know Walsh **had** family let alone…"

"That means they're your family too," Buzzwang said. "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah. I guess they are," Shane said.

"Do you think any of them are still alive?" Billy asked.

"If they are something tells me that they might not be too happy if I just show up on their doorstep," Shane grumbled.

"There's Commander Walsh in his cadet's uniform!" Billy pointed.

"Boy even then he had a mustache," Bubblehead chirped. "Not as big and bushy as it is now but still…"

"He looks so young," Shane realized. "He must have been around my age when this was taken. Younger even."

"Is that my father?" Billy asked pointing to another picture. It was Max Sawyer and Commander Walsh at a bar somewhere. Both men looked rather jovial. "He looks so happy then."

"Do you want it?" Shane asked. Billy nodded. "Here, you can have it." He gave him the picture.

"Thanks," Billy took it. "Is this all there is? I mean all of Walsh's stuff?"

"I just started but it looks like there isn't much," Shane pointed. "The closet was almost empty. He didn't have that many clothes outside of his uniform. All I found in the drawers was a blank notebook and some pens."

"Blank notebook?" Billy raised an eyebrow. "Can I see it?"

"Why not? It's in there," Shane shrugged as Billy rummaged in the box. "You need it for school?"

"Not exactly," Billy retrieved the notebook and looked at the pens. "There might be a hidden message in here."

"But the pages were blank," Shane said.

"Or they only looked blank," Billy said. He found one pen and clicked a button. It gave off a strange light. "I thought so!"

"An infrared light?" Shane asked.

"Yeah," He opened the notebook and shone the light on it. "I knew it! This is in my father's handwriting! It's some genetic formulas!"

"Why isn't something like this on a computer disk with a password protecting it?" Buzzwang asked.

"My father did this a lot as a failsafe measure," Billy said. "People can hack into a disk if they know it's there. A blank piece of paper is a blank piece of paper."

"Interesting plan," Shane said. "So what exactly was your father working on? And why did Commander Walsh have it?"

Then they read the notes. "My father discontinued this…" Billy realized. "Said this was too dangerous or immoral to use."

"It's…" Shane was stunned. "A neutralizing formula. Experimental. It's supposed to cripple bio defense systems."

Billy and Shane looked at each other in shock. "Why would he…?" Billy asked.

"In case I ever went nuts," Shane told him.

Furious, Billy grabbed the notebook and started to tear it up. "Billy!" Shane was startled.

"Don't give me any garbage about this being a necessity!" Billy shouted, feeling rage inside him. "I never want this used on you! Not now! Not ever! It's **wrong!"**

"Billy… I know how you feel about me…" Shane's heart sunk. "But…"

"It's not just you Goose," Billy said. "It's like…That book is an insult to what my father stood for. He hated doing stuff like this."

"You're right," Shane agreed. He took out his blaster and set it at a low setting. He put the remains of the notebook in the trash and fired. "There. It's gone forever."

"Thanks Goose," Billy said. "I just couldn't let that formula…My father hated any of his creations used to destroy things. He would have wanted us to destroy it."

"I agree," Buzzwang added. "There are already too many weapons of mass destruction that threaten life forms. And even if you did lose your sanity Ranger Gooseman, I am sure that there are a dozen other weapons designed to incapacitate you already out there."

"That makes me feel so much better," Shane rolled his eyes.

"I love looking at family photos!" Bubblehead was playing with the album. "Here's Uncle Ted. And Aunt Mabel. This is Cousin David just back from prison! Cousin Shirley back from the fat farm! Oh look! This is the day grandpa was sober! WHOA MOMMA! LOOK AT AUNT MAGGIE!"

"What?" Shane looked at the one photo and nearly had a stroke. "Oh god no!"

"What is it?" Billy went to look.

"Don't look at it!" Shane shouted. He tried to grab the picture from Bubblehead.

"Naked lady! Naked lady! Whoo momma!" Bubblehead chirped as he flew around.

"Billy! Don't look at it! Bubblehead give it to me!" Shane shouted.

"Oh you just want the naked lady for yourself!" Bubblehead landed on Billy's shoulder.

"Goose, I have seen pictures of naked…She looks familiar," Billy blinked as he looked at the picture. "Oh God! It's Ambassador Domani! I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"I told you **not **to look at it!" Shane shouted as he grabbed the picture. "Okay we need to get a lighter or some matches or something! Now!"

"I was not expecting a picture of that nature to be found in here," Buzzwang was scandalized. "Oh my…"

"Never mind I'll take this to the incinerator later," Shane stuffed it in his back pocket. "I don't want to waste any more laser fire on this. We should finish this up."

"Aww. Moving day, so sad," Bubblehead sighed. "Where are we going?"

"You're going to the scrap heap if you don't behave yourself," Shane remarked. "Hold it. When have you seen pictures of naked woman?"

"Uh biology class?" Billy whistled.

"Right," Shane snorted. "Why don't we just finish this up?"

"Might as well work on the books next," Buzzwang suggested. There was a shelf filled with books.

"There's nothing much here," Shane said as he started to pack them. "Mostly tactical and history books…" He picked up one book and snickered.

"Goose?" Billy asked.

"Nothing I just…" Shane showed him the title. It read: THE IMPORTANCE OF MANNERS IN SOCIETY. "Commander Walsh made me read this book when I first left Wolf Den. He was trying to teach me how to…Well how to fit in."

"I'm guessing you hated it," Billy smirked.

"How did you ever know?" Shane asked with a chuckle.

"There's a few laser holes in it," Billy pointed.

"Yup this is the same book all right," Shane opened it. "I recognize some of the doodles I drew. I can't believe he kept this."

"The Ugly Duckling?" Billy read one book title and took it out. "Why would Commander Walsh have a children's book?" He opened it. "Hey! The pages are all cut out! Something's inside it!"

"It's some sort of data storage unit with a genetic lock," Buzzwang scanned it with his sensors.

"You don't think…?" Billy asked.

"Only one way to find out," Shane said as he took off his glove and placed his hand on the device.

The device cracked to life. There was a hologram of Commander Walsh on it. "Shane Gooseman," It spoke. "If you're watching this, I'm either dead…Or incapacitated in some way."

"That's one way of putting it," Bubblehead chirped.

"I don't know exactly what the circumstances of this are, but I can imagine they're pretty dire," Walsh said. "After this message this device will open. Inside you will find a disk containing all the information on Wheiner, the Board of Leaders and something called the Black Rose Society you need. The disk explains everything…Well, **almost** everything."

Walsh seemed to hesitate. "Goose, I guess by now it's no secret on how proud I am of you. You were the best Supertrooper out of Wolf Den and became an exemplary Galaxy Ranger. I like to think I had a small part in that."

"Bigger than he's letting on," Bubblehead chirped before Billy shushed him.

"Shane it's because of how fond of you I've gotten I want you to have something," Walsh said. "On the disk there are coordinates for a small cabin I own in Colorado. I know how much you love the outdoors. I want you to have it. You deserve it."

"Hey! You got a house! Land! We got land!" Bubblehead chirped.

"No matter what happens I know I can count on you to continue my work," Walsh said. "To uphold justice and preserve law and order. There is one more thing I should say…Shane also inside this storage unit is a necklace. I want you to destroy it. It's the key to a dangerous weapon. Get rid of it. That's all. Walsh out."

The hologram faded and the box opened. "That's it?" Shane was disappointed. "He wouldn't even tell me the truth even…He never planned to tell me even after…"

"Ooh! Shiny!" Bubblehead pulled out a silver medallion with some odd patterns on it.

Shane took it and looked at the medallion. "What are you going to do Goose?" Billy asked.

Shane knew there was only one thing he could do.

Twenty minutes later.

"And you're sure Walsh didn't mention exactly what this thing does?" Cain asked as he looked at the medallion along with the data disk.

"Just said it was some kind key to a dangerous weapon," Shane let out a breath. "But that data you can use to unearth more evidence on the Black Rose Society…"

"And maybe a clue to find Walsh," Cain smiled. "Good work Gooseman. I knew you wouldn't fail me."

"You knew there was something in his quarters and I'd find it," Shane realized. "And you knew you had to play on my pride in order to get it."

"Actually it was a gamble," Cain shrugged. "The odds were fifty/fifty you'd hide it. What can I say? I've got an addiction. And poker just doesn't do it for me any more."

"So that's why you sent Buzzwang," Shane folded his arms. "In case I **did **hide something from you."

"No, actually it was Bubblehead," Cain said. "He's easily bribable."

"That's good to know," Shane groaned.

"You did the right thing Goose," Cain said. "Now I don't know what this is a key to but if Walsh says it's dangerous the best thing to do is lock it up until we know the truth. And the data on this disk will be invaluable to us."

"Wonderful," Shane grumbled.

"You didn't betray Commander Walsh. He betrayed **us** when he deserted," Cain said.

"He betrayed me before this," Shane let out a breath. "He was never going to tell me the truth no matter what."

"I always thought Walsh was too harsh and kept too many secrets," Cain shook his head. "Fortunately we have his biggest one right here."

"You mean me?" Shane asked bitterly.

"Sorry to be the one to break it to you Gooseman, but you've just become the most valuable Galaxy Ranger we have," Cain told him. "And I don't just mean for your bio-defenses and shooting skills. Walsh left you behind for a reason. Despite your obvious flaws, you are the very model of a Galaxy Ranger. You are honest, loyal and will uphold the law. You are an example of what the Galaxy Rangers stand for. We need rangers like you if we are going to survive."

"You're joking?"

"I'm not," Cain said. "Gooseman like it or not you are Commander Walsh's greatest legacy. Whether they admit it or not, every other ranger…Hell most of Earth is going to look to you and the example you and your team sets during these difficult times."

"You're saying I'm a role model?" Shane was stunned.

"In a way," Cain said. "Not only that, you're the link to all of Commander Walsh's secrets. There's no way I'm going to put that in jeopardy unless I can help it."

"So you kept me here in case that sighting was a trap," Shane put it together.

"In case? The second your team got to Mars they were ambushed," Cain snapped. "I tell you the jokers that thought they would get you that easily were severely disappointed. And even better, I just got word from Foxx. They caught the so called mastermind of the plot. Remember Senator Sleevegren?"

"One of the committee members of the Supertrooper Project," Shane realized. "I remember him. He always lost big money on the hunts."

"Yes and he always lost his other bets to me at poker games," Cain snorted. "Don't be so surprised Gooseman. I can smell out a half baked scheme for revenge a mile away. Two miles if a member of the Board of Leaders tries to think one up."

"And Sleevegren couldn't strategize his way out of a wet paper bag," Shane remembered the senator well.

"Your team mates broke through his trap like one too," Cain smiled. "I ordered Foxx to gather as much information as possible at the good senator's hideout before coming back to BETA. Then Sleevegren and I might have a little chat. In fact I might ask you to accompany me. I mean he wanted to see you so badly…Let's oblige the man."

"You know something, Commander," Shane smiled as he folded his arms. "I might not mind working for you after all."

"The days of you going off on cattle drives and mail runs are over," Cain said. "You're far too valuable to waste on missions like that. I'm keeping an eye on you, not just because of your connection to Walsh, but what you can do for BETA and Earth. So before I dismiss you, is there anything else you found in Walsh's room I can use?"

"Actually there is one **other** thing," Shane took out the picture from his back pocket. "What the hell? This day is bottomed out already!"

"Holy…" Cain whistled. "Is this who I think it is?"

"Don't say it," Shane groaned. "My stomach is already in knots."

"Well, well…" Cain smirked. "Gooseman your value has just **skyrocketed!** Keep finding treats like this and we'll all be very happy!" He put the picture in his pocket.

"Commander Walsh, when I do find you, you are a **dead man**," Shane groaned to himself.


End file.
